Robotic system and method for the cleaning of casting ladles in electric arc furnaces

ABSTRACT

In the smelting process, the electric furnace is intended to treat the slag from other furnaces. The slag loading of the electric furnace is carried out using a ladle which cools down after unloading the slag which is adhered to the ladle making it difficult to reload the furnace. For this reason, the ladle must be cleaned on a regular basis. Due to the above, a robot system and method have been developed to clean the electric furnace ladle, which is capable of carrying out such activity automatically through the use of a robotic manipulator.  
     The robotic system is composed mainly of an anthropomorphous robotic manipulator of at least 6 degrees of freedom ( 1 ), and one cleaning tool ( 2 ) which allows to clean the ladle ( 3 ) each time the furnace is loaded ( 4 ).

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent applicationSer. No. 60/734,980 filed 2005 Nov 10 by the present inventor

FEDERAL SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not Applicable

SEQUENCE LISTING OR PROGRAM

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Invention

This invention relates to the use of robotic technology in miningindustry, specifically in the electric arc furnaces.

2. Prior Art

In the metal smelting processes, the smelting furnaces are used and areintended to smelt metals and/or concentrates of metals for purifying andextracting it. These furnaces use the heat generated by the oxidationreactions at high temperatures, obtaining 2 stages: a stage rich invaluable metal, called matte and other stage which is poor in valuablemetal called slag. In general terms, the smelting furnaces operate on acontinuous basis, while the matte and the slag is unloaded to binsthrough batch processes through opening and closing the correspondingbleed.

The slag generated from this smelting process feeds an electric furnacewhich is intended to treat the slag from the fusion and conversionfurnaces. For these purposes, the slag from these other furnaces isconstantly loaded through a reception ladle. When the slag cools off, itsolidifies and adheres to the reception ladle which decreases theeffective area through which the furnace is fed. This means that thefurnace cannot be loaded on a constant basis if the ladle is not cleanedwhich means the furnace production is reduced.

One of the main disadvantages of the tasks associated to the cleaning ofladles is the exposure of the personnel to harsh environmentalconditions. This, in the medium and long term could generate seriousoccupational diseases to the operators in charge of carrying out thistask.

SUMMARY

A robotic system and method have been developed for cleaning the ladleof the electric furnace, capable of carrying out such activity in anautomated way.

DRAWINGS—FIGURES

In the drawings, closely related figures share the same numbers, withdifferent alphabetic suffixes.

FIG. 1. General view of a robot system for cleaning the ladle in theelectric furnace

FIG. 2. General view of a robot system for cleaning the ladle in theelectric furnace

FIG. 3. General layout of a robotic system fro cleaning procedures ofthe ladle in the electric furnace

DRAWINGS—REFERENCE NUMERALS

1. Robotic manipulator

2. gripping mechanism

3. Cleaning Tool

4. Ladle

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This invention relates to a new robot system as well as a robotic methodfor cleaning procedures of the ladle in the electric furnace, which arecarried out automatically through anthropomorphous robotic arms of atleast 6 degrees of freedom for the cleaning of the ladle after eachdischarge of the bin.

With reference to FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3, the robot system for thecleaning of the ladle in the electric furnace is composed mainly of onerobotic manipulator of at least 6 degrees of freedom (1), provided witha communication, acquisition and control system and a gripping mechanism(2) to allow to take, manipulate, and release a tool (3), which is usedfor cleaning processes of all the ladle surface (4), after eachdischarge of the bin.

1. A robot system for cleaning the ladle in the electric furnace,comprising an anthropomorphous robotic arm of at least 5 degrees offreedom, one control, communication and programming unit, one gripperadapter, one pneumatic gripper mechanism, one pneumatic gripper drivingsystem, one electric supply system, one fixed or mobile tool holder, onedevice or tool for cleaning the reception ladles wherein theanthropomorphous robotic arm of at least 5 degrees of freedom isprovided with a gripping mechanism which allows in a sequential andprogrammed way to take the cleaning device or tool which are placed atthe fixed and/or mobile tool holder located near the robotic manipulatorand which will used for the cleaning of all the surface of the receptionladle after each discharge of the pot at the smelting furnace.
 2. Arobot system for cleaning the ladle in the electric furnace according toclaim 1, wherein the system has the capacity to take, manipulate andrelease the cleaning device or tool in different paths within the workvolume of the robotic manipulator.
 3. A robot system for cleaning theladle in the electric furnace according to claim 1, wherein the roboticmanipulator is mounted on a fixed and/or mobile system which allows in asequential and programmed way to approach or move away from thereception ladle of the slag cleaning furnace in order to carry out thecleaning process of the reception ladle.
 4. A robot system for cleaningthe ladle in the electric furnace according to claim 1, wherein theanthropomorphous robotic manipulator could communicate by itself orthrough a PLC interface with the control system.
 5. A robot system forcleaning the ladle in the electric furnace according to claim 1, whereinthe anthropomorphous robotic manipulator has the capacity to obtain andinterpret the information from installed analogue and/or digitalsensors.
 6. A robot system for cleaning the ladle in the electricfurnace according to claim 1, wherein the anthropomorphous roboticmanipulator has the capacity to generate analogue and/or digital signalsto control analogue and/or digital input devices.
 7. A robot system forcleaning the ladle in the electric furnace according to claim 1, whereinthe robotic manipulator has a gripping mechanism, whether pneumatic,electrical and/or hydraulic, so such device allows in a sequential andprogrammed way to take, manipulate and release the device or tool forcleaning the reception ladle.
 8. A robot system for cleaning the ladlein the electric furnace according to claim 1, wherein it uses a fixedand/or mobile tool holder from which the manipulator takes in asequential and programmed way the device and tool to be used in thecleaning of reception ladles.
 9. A robot system for cleaning the ladlein the electric furnace according to claim 1, wherein it uses a deviceor tool located in the tool holder in such a way that the roboticmanipulator takes it in a sequential and programmed way, for cleaningthe reception ladles so as once this task is ended, it is depositedagain in the tool holder.
 10. A robot system for cleaning the ladle inthe electric furnace according to claim 1, wherein the anthropomorphousrobotic manipulator has an electrical and/or hydraulic system driven bythree-stage induction motors, with vectorial and/or scalar control. 11.A robot system for cleaning the ladle in the electric furnace accordingto claim 1, wherein it could be integrated to the cleaning process ofany type of ladles for slag smelting, conversion and cleaning processesboth copper and other metals such as iron, zinc, nickel, silver, gold,tin, lead, etc.
 12. A robot system for cleaning the ladle in theelectric furnace according to claim 1, wherein the system may operateautomatically, or semi-automatically, and also allows solutionsscalability.
 13. A robotic method for cleaning the ladle in the electricfurnace using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein theanthropomorphous robotic manipulator of at least 5 degrees of freedom isprovided with a gripping mechanism so as to take in a sequential andprogrammed way the cleaning device or tool which is placed on the fixedand/or mobile tool holder located near the robotic manipulator to beused for carrying out the cleaning process of all the surface of thereception ladle after each discharge of bin in the smelting furnace. 14.A robotic method for cleaning the ladle in the electric furnace usingthe robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the robotic manipulator hasthe capacity to take, manipulate and release the cleaning device or toolin different paths within the work volume of the robotic manipulator.15. A robotic method for cleaning the ladle in the electric furnaceusing the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the anthropomorphousrobotic manipulator could communicate by itself or through a PLCinterface with the control system.
 16. A robotic method for cleaning theladle in the electric furnace using the robot System of claim 1 to 12,wherein the anthropomorphous robotic manipulator has the capacity toobtain and interpret the information from installed analogue and/ordigital sensors.
 17. A robotic method for cleaning the ladle in theelectric furnace using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein theanthropomorphous robotic manipulator has the capacity to generateanalogue and/or digital signals to control analogue and/or digital inputdevices.
 18. A robotic method for cleaning the ladle in the electricfurnace using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the robotmanipulator is mounted on a fixed and/or mobile system which allows in asequential and programmed way to approach and/or move away the receptionladle of the slag cleaning furnace to clean the reception ladle.
 19. Arobotic method for cleaning the ladle in the electric furnace using therobot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein the robotic manipulator may use agripping mechanism, whether pneumatic, electric and/or hydraulic, insuch a way that such device allows in a sequential and programmed way totake, manipulate and release the cleaning device or tool to be used inthe cleaning process of the reception ladle.
 20. A robotic method forcleaning the ladle in the electric furnace using the robot System ofclaim 1 to 12, wherein it uses a fixed and/or mobile tool holder fromwhich the robotic manipulator takes in a sequential and programmed waythe device or tool to be used in the cleaning process of the receptionladle.
 21. A robotic method for cleaning the ladle in the electricfurnace using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein it uses adevice or tool which is located in the tool holder so as the roboticmanipulator takes it in a sequential and programmed way to carry out thecleaning processes of the reception ladles so as once such task hasended, it is deposited back into the tool holder.
 22. A robotic methodfor cleaning the ladle in the electric furnace using the robot System ofclaim 1 to 12, wherein it could be integrated to the cleaning of anytype of ladles in the slag smelting, conversion and cleaning processesboth of copper and other metals such as iron, zinc, nickel, silver,gold, tin, lead, etc.
 23. A robotic method for cleaning the ladle in theelectric furnace using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein thesystem may operate automatically or semi-automatically, and also allowssolution scalability.
 24. Device or tool for cleaning the ladle in anelectric furnace using the robot System of claim 1 to 12, wherein it hasa geometry which fits the feeding ladle and it is located in the toolholder so as the robotic manipulator takes it in a sequential andprogrammed way to carry out the cleaning process of the ladle in theelectrical furnace, so as once such task has ended it is deposited backinto the tool holder.